Grain-car door



A. SWITZER.

GRAIN CAR DOOR. APPLICATION FILED-JUNE I4. I919.

Patenwd May 25, 1920.

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ATTORN EY i UNITED STATES PATENT orricr...

GRAIN-CAR DOOR.

Application filed June 14, 1919.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALBERT Swi'rznn, a citizen of the Dominion of Canada, residing at Grenfell, in the Province of Saskatchewan and Dominion of Canada, have invented a new and useful Grain-Car Door, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to grain car doors.

The object is the provision of means for closing or unclosing the opening in freight cars used in the shipment of grain or similar commodity, wherein the pressure of the contents of the car is utilized to maintain the closure in position from within and which may be opened in whole or in part to permit of the unloading of said contents.

Another object is to provide simple and easily operable holding means for the lower part of the said closure, which part is necessarily subjected to the greatest pressure from the weight of the grain or other commodity within, said holding means being. adapted to bear against and to hold the adjacent lower part of the closure and to be sealed in such locked position while the shipment is en route, and which may be readily un-- sealed and unlocked by a simple operation to release the lower part of the closure, when the grain, etc., may be readily unloaded.

A further object is to provide the closure with an upper portion or section which may be readily freed and removed by hand to permit of access to the load of grain or other commodity, said upper closure being spaced from the roof rafters of the car to provide ventilating space above the load, it being customary, in cars of this class to only partially load the same, owing to the great wei ht of the grain or other commodity.

A full and complete understanding of the invention may be obtained from a consideration of the following detailed description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawing forming a part of this specification; it being understood that while the drawing shows a practical form of the invention, the latter is not confined to strict conformity therewith, but may be changed or modified so long as such changes or modifications mark no material departure from the salient features of the invention, as specifically pointed out in the appended claims.

In the drawing, in which like reference characters designate corresponding parts throughout the several figures:-

Figure l is a perspective view of a por- Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 25, 1920.

Serial No. 304,319.

tion of a grain car door equipped with the improved door or closure of the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view taken to one side of the door or closure, and look ing toward the same and showing the looking and sealing means for the lower portion thereof.

Fig. 3 is a similar view taken centrally through the door or closure and looking in a direction opposite to that of Fig. 2.

Fig. a is a horizontal sectional view through the lower portion of the door or closure and further illustrating the look ing means.

Fig. 5 is a detail elevation of the upper portion of the door or closure as viewed from the inside of the car.

The portion of the car illustrated in the drawing is intended to be indicative of an ordinary car as constructed for the shipment of grain or other similar commodity and wherein the frame work is built on the outside thereof, the sealing being placed within to provide an unobstructed area so as to avoid any pockets or spaces from which the contents of the car may not be readily removed,

The main longitudinally disposed sills, indicated at 1, carry the floor boards 2, and are connected to the roof rafters 3 by vertical studding (not shown) and by the vertical door posts a, all of which may be found in the ordinary car of this class, the posts a defining an opening therebetween, which is closed by the doors of the car.

One of the posts 4 is provided on its face next to the said opening with a cleat 5, secured thereto in a vertical position and ex tending from the roof rafter 3 to a point substantially midway of the height of the said post 4:, and arranged with its inner edge flush with the inner edge of the adjacent sealing, as clearly shown in Fig. 3.

Beneath the cleat 5 and extending from the lower end thereof to a point close to the upper face of the adjacent sill l, is a hinge member comprising an attaching plate 6 adapted to be suitably secured to the face of the post 4, as by screws, and having hingedly connected thereto, in the ordinary manner, a swinging plate 7 for a purpose to be explained.

At the opposite side of the door opening, the sealing boards are shortened or cut away to provide a recess in rear of the adjacent adapted to receive and to hold the beveled edge 10 of a lower door or closure 11, and a corresponding beveled edge 12 of an upper door or closure 13, each of which is adapted to be placed by hand within said socket and thus prevented by the same from any inward or outward movement, at that side ofthe doorway, the lower door 11 resting upon the adjacent end edges of the floor boards 2, and in turn, supporting the upper door 13.

The opposite end of the lower door 11 is adapted to swing free of the hinge members 6 and 7 when closed, using the opposite beveled end 10, within the socket 9, as a pivotal point, while the upper door 13, which is slightly longer than the lower door '11, is adapted to extend into a recess 14, formed in the upper end of a vertically disposed strip or cleat 15, placed at the inner edges of the adjacent sealing boards and extending from the floor boards 2 to a point flush with the top edge of the top door 13, which is thus adapted to rest upon the shoulder 16, formed by the recess 14 and to remain in position, even when the lower door is swung out of parallelism therewith. The upper door 13 is prevented from being raised accidentally from its seat upon the shoulder 16, by a pivoted turn button 17, secured to the adjacent inner face of the sealing boards and adapted to be swung into vertical position to engage the upper edge of the said door, a stop pin 18 being appropriately located to arrest the swinging action of the turn button 17 in such position, or the latter may be turned into the position indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 5, when the adjacent end of the upper door 13 is free to be removed from its engagement with the socket 9, and the turn button 17 as will be readily understood.

The doors 11 and 13 are provided on their front faces with suitable strengthening cleats 11 and 13 respectively, and each has,

on its rear face and at the lower edges thereof, suitable strips of fabric ll and 13 respectively, adapted to cover up the crack or crevices at the lower edges, to prevent the leakage of the grain or other commodity with which the car might be loaded.

The attaching plate 6 of the hinge memher is provided with alined upper and lower slots 19, and the swinging plate or member 7 carries upper and lower arcuately formed arms 20, pivoted as at 21 to said plate for vertical swinging movement and adapted to traverse the slots 19 and to be projected through the same when the plate 7 is swung upon its hinge. The adjacent door post 4. is correspondingly slotted as at 22, through which the ends of the arcuate arms 20 project, and the latter are provided with spaced notches 23 so located as to engage with the bottom wall of the slots 19 to hold the swinging plate 7, either in its fully closed position, when it will bear against the lower door 11 to hold the same against the pressure of the contents of the car, or in its fully opened position, when the plate 11 will lie flat against the attaching plate 6 and the free end of the lower door 11 may be swung past the same to permit of the removal of the grain.

The free ends of the arcuate arms 20 are connected by a vertically disposed link 24: which causes them to move in unison to disengage either of the notches 23 from the slots 19, when manually operated for such purpose.

A latch member 25 is pivotally mounted at its upper end upon a pivotal post 26 carried by the door post 4 to which the hinge member 6 is secured and on the opposite face thereto, the said latch member 25 having, near its lower end, a shoulder 27 adapted to engage over the upper edge of the lower arcuate arm 20, which is somewhat extended beyond the upper arm 20 for this purpose, and a leaf spring 28 is secured to the rear edge of the latch 25 and having its terminals bearing against the side of the car to force the latch 25 outwardly to 'engage the extended lower arcuate arm, when the latter is pressed down to catch one or the other of the pairs of notches 23 within the slots 19 to hold the swinging plate 7 either open or closed, as the case might be.

The extended end of the lower arcuate arm 20 is provided with an aperture 29, and the lower end of the latch 25 carries an ear 30 adapted to lie against the adjacent arm 20 and having a suitable aperture in registering relation to the aperture 29, through which apertures is passed the wire 31 of an ordinary car seal which, if broken, will denote that the latch has been tampered with. A locker 32 suitably secured beneath the car and having a hinged door provided with means for locking the same, is adapted to carry the doors 11 and 13 when. not in use. From the foregoing it will be seen that a simple and inexpensive grain car door has been provided, which may readily be applied to any car of this class, and which is easily taching plate having slots, and a swinging plate hinged to the attaching plate and adapted to bear against the outer side of the door member, at one end, arms connected to said swinging plate and passing through the slots of the attaching plate, and means for locking said arms to hold said swinging plate in direct engagement with said door member.

2. In a grain car door, the combination with a door member, of a hinge member of substantially equal height to said door memher, said hinge member comprising an attaching plate, and a swinging plate hinged to said attaching plate and adapted to bear directly against the outer side of the door member at one end, said attaching plate having slots and said hinged plate having arms to pass through and engage in said slots, and a spring-pressed latch to engage with either one or both of said arms to lock the same in their engagement with said slots.

3. A grain car door comprising independent upper and lower sections, the door opening having a socket at one side thereof, said sections fitting into said socket at that side,

a shoulder provided at the other side in posinotches adapted to be locked in the slots, a,

link connecting the arcuate arms to cause them to move in unison, and a springpressed latch pivotally mounted on the car to engage the lower arcuate arm to hold the notches in engagement in the slots.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own, I have hereto affixed my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

ALBERT SWVITZER.

Witnesses:

FLORA A. LASKEY, A. GowLnR. 

